Gazania maritima

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Gazania maritima
Gazania maritima - 1 Smitswinkel - Cape Point.jpg
The distinctive elongated stems, pinnate spiny-margined leaves and involucre of Gazania maritima.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Gazania
Species:
G. maritima
Binomial name
Gazania maritima
Levyns

Gazania maritima is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Western Cape province, South Africa. [1]

Contents

Description

The involucre of Gazania maritima Gazania maritima involucre 1 - Smitswinkel - Cape Point.jpg
The involucre of Gazania maritima

Gazania maritima is a perennial species, with a spreading growth-form (similar to Gazania rigens ) and stems that spread and form mats.

The leaves are usually pinnate, but can also sometimes be whole. The upper leaf surface is smooth (glabrous). The leaf margins are lined with tiny spines.

The flowerheads have yellow rays (sometimes orange). Like most gazanias, the ray undersides usually have dark stripes. The petioles are sometimes ciliate. The involucre is smooth (glabrous) and campanulate, with an obtuse base (sometimes subintruse). The outer involucre bracts have ciliate margins with spinules; The inner involucre bracts have entire, membranous margins. [2]

Distribution

Gazania maritima in its natural coastal habitat near Cape Point. Gazania maritima - Smitswinkel - Cape Point.jpg
Gazania maritima in its natural coastal habitat near Cape Point.

Gazania maritima is indigenous to the Western Cape Province, South Africa. It is recorded from Cape Point (the type locality) on the Cape Peninsula, and from Cape Hangklip.

Related Research Articles

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<i>Felicia bellidioides</i> A perennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

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<i>Mairia burchellii</i> Perennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

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<i>Mairia petiolata</i> Perennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

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<i>Gazania lichtensteinii</i> Species of plant

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<i>Felicia tenella</i> A annual or biennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

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<i>Felicia</i> (plant) Genus of shrublets, perennials and annuals in the daisy family

Felicia is a genus of small shrubs, perennial or annual herbaceous plants, with 85 known species, that is assigned to the daisy family. Like in almost all Asteraceae, the individual flowers are 5-merous, small and clustered in typical heads, and which are surrounded by an involucre of, in this case between two and four whorls of, bracts. In Felicia, the centre of the head is taken by yellow, seldom whitish or blackish blue disc florets, and is almost always surrounded by one single whorl of mostly purple, sometimes blue, pink, white or yellow ligulate florets and rarely ligulate florets are absent. These florets sit on a common base and are not individually subtended by a bract. Most species occur in the Cape Floristic Region, which is most probably the area where the genus originates and had most of its development. Some species can be found in the eastern half of Africa up to Sudan and the south-western Arabian peninsula, while on the west coast species can be found from the Cape to Angola and one species having outposts on the Cameroon-Nigeria border and central Nigeria. Some species of Felicia are cultivated as ornamentals and several hybrids have been developed for that purpose.

<i>Gazania heterochaeta</i> Species of plant

Gazania heterochaeta is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to South Africa and Namibia.

<i>Gazania ciliaris</i> Species of plant

Gazania ciliaris is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native predominantly to the Western Cape province, South Africa, where it occurs from Vanrhynsdorp to the Eastern Cape near Joubertina.

<i>Gazania pectinata</i> Species of plant

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<i>Gazania rigida</i> Species of plant

Gazania rigida, the "Karoo Gazania", is a species of flower native to the Western Cape and Northern Cape Provinces of South Africa.

<i>Gazania serrata</i> Species of plant

Gazania serrata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Cape and Western Cape provinces, South Africa.

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References

  1. "Red List Entry". SANBI.
  2. Magee, A.R., Boatwright, J.S. & Mucina, L. (2011). Gazania lanata and G. splendidissima: Two new species of Asteraceae (tribe Arctotideae) from the Greater Capensis, with an updated key for the genus. South African Journal of Botany 77(1):86-93.